Madeleine Somerville has replaced Emma Levez Larocque as literacy outreach coordinator at Powell River Literacy Council.
For the past month Somerville has been in the position and she is impressed with the amount of projects and knowledge there is in the community. “It’s absolutely incredible,” she said.
She moved from Squamish to Powell River with her husband, who is originally from the area, and their young daughter eight months ago. “He finally won me over to come here,” she said.
Somerville’s background is in social services and she worked with at-risk youth previously though she is excited about working in the promotion of literacy.
“I’m new to the literacy field, but I’m very interested in and passionate about it,” she added. “My predecessor Emma Larocque has done a fantastic job raising awareness about literacy in our community and I’m hoping to continue the work that she’s done and start new initiatives and programs to address literacy issues in Powell River.”
Part of her goal in the position is to inspire a culture of life-long learning emphasizing the fact that literacy does not stop when students acquire basic reading, writing and numeracy skills. “It’s a way of thinking rather than a task that you can check off when you’re done,” she added.
Somerville said part of the task of the literacy council is to raise awareness of literacy in the community because it affects everyone whether they recognize it or not.
She has been spending a lot of her time preparing for Family Literacy Day, which has been celebrated for the past 14 years.
This year’s event will be a pajama party to emphasize the importance of bedtime stories in developing a culture of literacy. It is open for children eight years old and younger and will be a fun event that will include stories, songs, arts and craft projects and snacks, she said.
“Although literacy doesn’t stop with reading, it often starts there especially with the little ones,” she added.
The event will be held Friday, January 24 at Powell River Recreation Complex and Somerville said Mayor Dave Formosa has agreed to read a story to the children in his pajamas at the event.
She said that because the position is new for her, she is learning as she goes, but has felt a tremendous amount of support for the work being done in literacy. “Everyone has been amazing,” she said. “I’ve been totally blown away by Powell River; I probably would have moved here sooner if I knew this was here.”
Powell River Literacy Council is part of The Learning Centre, which also offers free services to the community through PRIS (Powell River Immigrant Services) and CALL (Community Adult Literacy and Learning). PRIS offers settlement services to immigrants and ESL tutoring and CALL offers free one-on-one tutoring for adults wishing to learn or improve basic reading, writing, math or computer skills.
“Both programs are really incredible,” she said, “and do a lot to address literacy issues on a local level, and they are always looking for volunteers.” All of the programs come under the umbrella of Powell River Employment Program Society.
For more information about the work of the literacy council or The Learning Centre, readers can contact Somerville at 604.485.2004.
